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Sun Bowl Fan Experience

Dec 4, 2022
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Thinking about making a quick trip down for the game. For those who've been to Sun Bowl games in the past, can you share a little about what the fan experience might be like? And are hotels, stadium and fan events all centralized in the same area?
 
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Thinking about making a quick trip down for the game. For those who've been to Sun Bowl games in the past, can you share a little about what the fan experience might be like? And are hotels, stadium and fan events all centralized in the same area?

The cheapest hotels are in the next town over (Juarez)
 
Thinking about making a quick trip down for the game. For those who've been to Sun Bowl games in the past, can you share a little about what the fan experience might be like? And are hotels, stadium and fan events all centralized in the same area?
The Sun Bowl Stadium is on the UTEP campus as I remembered. The best places to stay are near the airport. From the airport to the stadium is probably a little less than 10 miles.
 
If you can leave work for a week, go ahead and do it. But, Dear God, please don't stay stagnant in El Paso. My advice would be to visit Albuquerque, take a rideover to Sandia Peak and then freeze your ass off at the top. No, seriously, it's actually neat, you go up super high and it's cold as sh*t up there. I would also visit Santa Fe for a couple days. Ride the train, visit the shops, go to some windy ass staircase. Visit White Sands National Park, rent one of the disc metal sleds (and buy some soap) and go sledding on the sand dunes. Boyz II Men filmed their video for "Water Runs Dry" there. Honestly, the bowl game events were super lame. Just a bunch of white hucksters and cougars patting each other on the ass, trying to outpillar one another as an important donor. Like, picture a group of 55+ year old white people double clapping to a bougie mariachi band. Guys wearing denim Pitt shirts and the ladies wearing 1997 Pitt torchcut pullovers. It sucked to high hell. Fuddruckers is there and that was good. Don't go to Juarez.
 
Last year it was cold and rained continuously during the game. It was as miserable looking a fan experience as one could ever envision.

So you got that going for ya
 
Now this was in 2008, so a while ago....
I took my teenage son. They do a nice job for the fans. They had a battle of the bands then fireworks the night before. The city embraces the game and treats it as a major community event. A lot of the fans at the game are locals.
I liked El Paso for the game. The food is good. I can't rate it versus the rest of Texas, but my son and I smashed BBQ or Mexican for every meal.
The stadium is meh. Kind of like Pitt Stadium.
Game was the 3-0 classic.
The matchup is good. I'd encourage you to go.
Don't cross the border. It is not safe in Juarez.
 
If you enter Juarez and see this guy... go the other way.

Narcos-Mexico-Season-3-Cast-Netflix-Every-Performer-Character.jpg
 
Not in El Paso, but in Deming, NM there's a winery tasting room that's worth it if you're a wine fan. Las Cruces, NM is midway between Deming and El Paso and home to New Mexico State U.

 
I would recommend going to cattlemen’s ranch restaurant east of El Paso. It’s a great steakhouse that has its own zoo. One night we were eating dinner and the restaurant threw out raw steaks to the wolves. They were eating them right outside of window. These were wild wolves not part of the zoo. Numerous movies were filmed there. Also you should visit old messilla just outside Las Cruces NM. Great history. Was the hangout area for Billy the Kid. Best margarita i ever had was at the Double Eagle
 
Walking into Juarez is like walking into another world. Any metal gratings on the street will be missing. The cops on the corners stand in group of 6-8. The money you spend on any gifts should be different than the list price. Merchants there enjoy negotiating.

Still, I found it intriguing. Pretty sure you need a passport to go now.

It was free walking over the bridge from the American side. Coming back, the Mexican guard at the bridge wanted a fee. Unfortunately, they wouldn't take American money. Fortunately, her cousin was right there selling pesos for American money.

Anyway, it was an experience I wouldn't have missed.

An added problem since the last time I was there are the illegal aliens coming across. 53,284 is the number of known immigrants who illegally crossed into El Paso in October.
 
If you're into caverns (which I am), Carlsbad is 155 miles away -- that's under a 3 hour drive. Carlsbad Cavern is an amazing cavern.
 
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If you're into caverns (which I am), Carlsbad is 155 miles away -- that's under a 3 hour drive. Carlsbad Cavern is an amazing cavern.
Yes Carlisbad cavern is spectacular and if you are into hiking Guadalupe national park is also good
 
Thinking about making a quick trip down for the game. For those who've been to Sun Bowl games in the past, can you share a little about what the fan experience might be like? And are hotels, stadium and fan events all centralized in the same area?
Stay away from Marty Robbins and his crew at Rosie's Cantina...
 
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The cheapest hotels are in the next town over (Juarez)
i remember the athletic dept warned fans to not go into juarez last sun bowl because they were killing everyone. of course that was a good 15 years ago.

have things cooled off a bit there or are you just telling us to go there for cheap hotels and being a wise guy then we get our throats slit open as we play Neil Diamond in the jukebox at the mexican cantina?
 
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i remember the athletic dept warned fans to not go into juarez last sun bowl because they were killing everyone. of course that was a good 15 years ago.

have things cooled off a bit there or are you just telling us to go there for cheap hotels and being a wise guy then we get our throats slit open as we play Neil Diamond in the jukebox at the mexican cantina?
I would not go across the border. Juarez is the 5th most dangerous in the world.
 
i remember the athletic dept warned fans to not go into juarez last sun bowl because they were killing everyone. of course that was a good 15 years ago.

have things cooled off a bit there or are you just telling us to go there for cheap hotels and being a wise guy then we get our throats slit open as we play Neil Diamond in the jukebox at the mexican cantina?

The 2nd part😉
 
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alright, it's settled. we are all meeting the night before in Ciudad Juarez at the worst bar we can find.. we drink our faces off, act obnoxious and even get some U-S-A chants going in case we dont annoy the locals enough..

Women and children stay state-side.. Last man left alive pays the tab..
 
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alright, it's settled. we are all meeting the night before in Ciudad Juarez at the worst bar we can find.. we drink our faces off, act obnoxious and even get some U-S-A chants going in case we dont annoy the locals enough..

Women and children stay state-side.. Last man left alive pays the tab..

Meet at Juarez Applebee's?
 
Walking into Juarez is like walking into another world. Any metal gratings on the street will be missing. The cops on the corners stand in group of 6-8. The money you spend on any gifts should be different than the list price. Merchants there enjoy negotiating.

Still, I found it intriguing. Pretty sure you need a passport to go now.

It was free walking over the bridge from the American side. Coming back, the Mexican guard at the bridge wanted a fee. Unfortunately, they wouldn't take American money. Fortunately, her cousin was right there selling pesos for American money.

Anyway, it was an experience I wouldn't have missed.

An added problem since the last time I was there are the illegal aliens coming across. 53,284 is the number of known immigrants who illegally crossed into El Paso in October.

You are absolutely crazy if you go to Juarez.

I've been to Baghdad, Kandahar, and the West Bank and I wouldn't go to Juarez for $10,000.
 
I had the misfortune of attending the 2008 game. Besides the fact that the game set back college football a century, El Paso itself is pretty much a sh*& hole. You can see the entire downtown in about 5 minutes. I guess the surrounding area has some good hiking and nature. Honestly, El Paso is about as close to the bottom of places I would ever want to re-visit as I can imagine.

Cruzer
 
You are absolutely crazy if you go to Juarez.

I've been to Baghdad, Kandahar, and the West Bank and I wouldn't go to Juarez for $10,000.

Americans saying they are afraid to go to Mexico due to the violence are like Europeans who are afraid to the visit the US because of the violence. The vast majority of murders in the US and Mexico are targeted. Visiting some downtown touristy area in Juarez only brings a little more risk than visiting a similar area in St. Louis, Detroit, Memphis, etc.
 
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Americans saying they are afraid to go to Mexico due to the violence are like Europeans who are afraid to the visit the US because of the violence. The vast majority of murders in the US and Mexico are targeted. Visiting some downtown touristy area in Juarez only brings a little more risk than visiting a similar area in St. Louis, Detroit, Memphis, etc.
I have no desire to visit St Louis, Detroit nor Memphis either.
 
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Americans saying they are afraid to go to Mexico due to the violence are like Europeans who are afraid to the visit the US because of the violence. The vast majority of murders in the US and Mexico are targeted. Visiting some downtown touristy area in Juarez only brings a little more risk than visiting a similar area in St. Louis, Detroit, Memphis, etc.

Yeah because you can drive under a highway overpass in St. Louis and see bodies hung by local gangs.

That's what my employees saw in Mexico.

Not saying it's like that everywhere 100% of the time but Mexico has a level of violence and brutality unseen in the US. Their homicide rate is 6x ours and the USA is by far the most dangerous advanced democracy on Earth.

So you're just talking out of your bum.
 
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Yeah because you can drive under a highway overpass in St. Louis and see bodies hung by local gangs.

That's what my employees saw in Mexico.

Not saying it's like that everywhere 100% of the time but Mexico has a level of violence and brutality unseen in the US. Their homicide rate is 6x ours and the USA is by far the most dangerous advanced democracy on Earth.

So you're just talking out of your bum.

There's 2-3 times more murders in Juarez than the most dangerous American cities. And again, almost all are targeted. The chances of you, as a tourist being murdered in Juarez are about the same as if you went to go see a Detroit Lions game.
 
There's 2-3 times more murders in Juarez than the most dangerous American cities. And again, almost all are targeted. The chances of you, as a tourist being murdered in Juarez are about the same as if you went to go see a Detroit Lions game.

1. A 2-3x raw increase in homicides is a huge number, particularly when compared to places with hundreds of homicides per year already.

2. Nobody has ever been killed going to a Detroit Lions game.

3. While I agree with you that the majority of killings are targeted, Mexican levels of violence are still extreme, and the chance of getting caught in a cartel related violent episode are much higher than the chances of being killed under similar conditions in the US. It happens multiple times per year, to US citizens, in Juarez specifically.

4. Juarez has nothing of note to offer the average American. If you want to visit Mexico, there are other, safer places to go. It's an unnecessary risk for reckless people who want to feel like cowboys for a few hours.
 
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